Forum Finance: Westpac secures court order to freeze assets of Bill Papas’s partner Louise Agostino

Westpac has secured Federal Court orders to freeze the assets of Forum Finance boss Bill Papas’s girlfriend Louise Agostino, as it looks to retrieve funds from an alleged fraud.

Forum businessman Bill Papas, who is being pursued by three banks over alleged fraud, at his hideaway in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Westpac has succeeded in securing Federal Court orders to freeze the assets of Forum Finance boss Bill Papas’s girlfriend Louise Agostino, after she agreed to sell her Sydney apartment.

Westpac sought the freezing orders from Federal Court judge Michael Lee in a hearing on Tuesday. The orders were granted late that evening.

The case has now entangled Sydney real estate agents and a buyer after the December sale of Ms Agostino’s one-bedroom apartment in Rozelle, Sydney. The property was purchased in 2019 for $925,000.

“The court directs that Westpac, by their solicitors, is to notify the solicitors acting for Ms Agostino in relation to the sale of the 413/3 Nagurra Place, Rozelle of these orders by service,” the orders said. The document referred to Harris Friedman Lawyers.

It also shows that Westpac and two other banks pursuing Forum and Mr Papas will have access to material produced separately in subpoenas by Commonwealth Bank, Balmain Real Estate and Sydney City Realty.

Westpac, Societe Generale and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation are separately pursuing Mr Papas and Forum in court over a $500m alleged fraud. They claim Mr Papas was involved in creating false invoices to seek bank funding, often for goods that didn’t exist. Ms Agostino, who has joined Mr Papas in Greece, is the 47th of 49 defendants in the legal action.

Under the freezing order, Ms Agostino must within five business days inform the applicants in writing of all her assets, their value, location and details.

Justice Lee also varied a freezing order against Mr Papas which was made last June, and revised a month later, so that Westpac can seek that action in Greece.

Mr Papas departed Australia for Greece mid last year, when customer WesTrac started asking questions about its Forum account. He initially promised to return to Australia to defend the case, before providing a positive Covid-19 test result, telling the court he couldn’t travel. Mr Papas also disconnected his personal email that was being used to communicate with him.

Justice Lee last year issued an Australian arrest warrant for Mr Papas, given he had failed to engage with the court. That is expected to trigger an extradition order.

Forum and associated entities were placed in liquidation last year. McGrathNicol recently sold Mr Papas’s luxury Sydney home for about $4.4m. His two waterfront properties on the NSW Central Coast are on the block.

Originally published as Forum Finance: Westpac secures court order to freeze assets of Bill Papas’s partner Louise Agostino